Daily Times

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman on Saturday said that his ‘war’ with the government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would only end when he had sent the government packing.

Talking to the media in Peshawar ahead of his Azadi March against the ruling party scheduled for later this month, Rehman said that the entire country would be turned into a war-zone for the political spectacle.

JUI-F plans to stage a long march to the capital Islamabad on October 27 against the economic policies of the government, which the party says have destroyed the life of the common man.

“Our strategy will not remain stagnant. We will keep changing it to cope with [any] situation,” he said. He insisted that a “flood of people from all over the country” was coming to join the march and the “fake rulers will drown in it like a straw”.

The JUI-F chief demanded that the existing parliament be dissolved and new elections be held in Pakistan to assuage the concerns of his party. He also said he hoped the opposition joined him on the march.

Together with, Rehman lamented over the increasing inflation, joblessness and the slowdown in business activity because of the policies of the incumbent government.

Asked about the possibility of his arrest, Rehman reiterated that he was not afraid of being arrested, but only focused on overthrowing the incompetent government for the people of Pakistan.

The JUI-F chief, who heads several religious seminaries, also criticized attempts to reform religious education, stressing that it was a sensitive issue that needed to be dealt with accordingly.

When asked whether he has been able to garner the support of other opposition parties, he said that he “hope(s) to see them” in the march. He added that since all opposition parties agreed that last year’s general elections were “fake” and that a reelection should be held, they should all be “on the same page and same stage”.

Both PPP and PML-N, the two major opposition parties have been non-committal on the issue of participation in the march. The PML-N had urged Rehman to delay the march, while PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had yesterday said that he would hold a party meeting to decide “the extent to which [they] can help” Rehman.

Notably, the PPP had expressed unwillingness to participate in the anti-government movement because of the inclusion of the issues of blasphemy laws and Namoos-i-Risalat on its agenda.

In response to a question about the government’s claim that the JUI-F chief was “using” children studying in seminaries against the government, Rehman alleged that the rulers were trying to deny the students their democratic right.

Moreover, he claimed, the proportion of seminary students would be minimal, as people from every walk of life were joining the march.